Watch Captain Sigismund
''"Forward brothers! Cover the fields with their blasphemous dead!" '' Watch Captain Sigismund of the Black Templars is the Deathwatch kill team captain, and liason with the Inquisition and the Kai Dynasty. He is a massive hulk of a man, even by Space Marine standards. His white-blonde hair is shaved along the sides of his head, and long on top, pulled into a braid laced with ornate prayer scrolls and purity seals. His eyes are stern, stone grey and seem to bore straight through whoever his gaze is directed at. His entire face is a criss-cross of scars, and one of his three command studs has been ripped clear from his forehead. All who speak with him get the sensation that he is only one wrong word away from striking down his conversational partner, and it is very hard to not feel uneasy around him. Sigismund wears ornate Artificer Armor, an indication that he has served as the Emperor's Champion in his days with his chapter, but it seems to be permanently stained with blood from a thousand foes. This just adds to the sense of brooding unease around him. Background history Those who have worked within or closely with the Deathwatch know something of Sigismund, although most records of his accomplishments reside in one of the Black Templar's battle barges. He has served three secondments to the Deathwatch, and been in the Jericho Reach since the earliest days of the crusade. Before coming to Watch Fortress Erioch, he was named Emperor's Champion once and commanded his own company of Sword Brethren with the Black Templars. Stories about him are as much tales of glory as they are of his ruthless ferocity and efficiency. Personality None would claim that dealing with Watch Captain Sigismund is a pleasent prospect. He is puritanical and contemptious to the extreme, although some would say he has become more moderate with his time in the Deathwatch. While he may interact with normal humans and other Adeptus Astartes on a regular basis, he seems absolutely repulsed with any form of psykers or witches of any kind. While he is near them or, rarely, has to deal with them directly, his eyes burn with an infernal fire, and it seems a testiment to his incredible force of will that he doesn't strike the witch down on the spot. While he maintains a barely civil interaction with the normal crew of the ship, he is fiercly loyal to his Deathwatch brothers, and seems to soften up to members of the Ecclesiarchy on occasion. He is in no way on good terms with Adrielle Quist, but seems to tolerate her because of her position and the quality of her work. Rumors - Sigismund was once a Marshal in the Black Templars, but after an incident when he nearly killed a psychic Ordo Herticus inquisitor, tensions were so high that he was sent to the Deathwatch instead. - Some say that his armor actually can be cleansed of the blood, but that Sigismund chooses not to. Why that is, no-one knows. - The Watch Captain once single-handedly killed a Traitor demon prince in close combat, and that all his facial scars are from where the fiend slashed him with its claws - There are rumors (among the Adeptus Astartes only) that Sigismund was hand picked for this trip because of something that was extracted from the Omega Vault. - He is not as unapproachable as everyone seem to think, but you have to prove your worth if you are a human. Killing a psyker might be a good way to go about this.